The pain in her ribs hardly dulled as Artemis lied there against the tree, an arm wrapped around her middle. She tried in vain to move just enough to maybe attack Valam or something. Dying here without fighting for her life wasn't the way she wanted to go! It couldn't happen.
She didn't want to embarrass Rhage.
She was the life-mate of a clan leader. There was no room for weakness — even if she was in a great amount of pain.
There was no way Rhage could reach her in time. If he even knew where she was. Hopefully the GPS was still pinging her location.
Artemis fought through the blinding pain as she slowly sat up and rolled onto her hands and knees. She inhaled huge gulps of air when the nausea returned, bringing bile up her throat. Sweat poured down her face and neck from the exertion necessary of simply trying to stand. It was slow and arduous but eventually she brought herself to her feet.
The ground threatened to spring up in her face and tilted left and right on its axis. It twisted her stomach but she fought with all she had to ignore it and take a shaky step toward Valam.
The traitor Yautja scoffed as he turned to watch her take shaky steps towards him with her wristblades drawn. He stood there growling like an overgrown tiger, his own wristblades extended and at the ready. His body was relaxed and at ease, clearly thinking she didn't stand a chance against him in such a state. She was too weak and injured, yet she persisted.
"You oomans never give up." He inclined his head with a hearty chuckle, "I did not break you enough it seems. Strike and it shall be your last."
Artemis took a deep shuddering breath as a wave of nausea threatened to bring her down along with the iron hot pain in her chest. Exhaling a long steady stream of air, she opened her eyes to glare at Valam.
"I would rather die on my feet than die like prey."
"Then I shall make it quick. Painless."
His massive size intimidated Artemis. The way he was built, wide and tall, proved there was no way she would win; but at least she'd try. She'd try for her family.
Up she swung her arm aiming for his lower abdomen but he blocked her with his blades making them sing upon impact. He shoved her arm away and brought his blades across her upper chest, just above her cleavage leaving long parallel lines that stretched across the expanse of her chest.
She cried out in pain and tried to swing again with her wristblades but once again he countered her.
"Weak. Untrained. S'yuit-de. Zabin. Kha'bj-te." Valam spit out while he circled Artemis, his passing shadow putting her in darkness when he moved in front of the little beams of light that poked through the canopy of the forest.
He abruptly stopped circling when one of his words echoed in a rough whisper from the trees.
"Zabinzabinzabinzabinzabin." Repeated the word without a break.
It sounded like it came from everywhere but nowhere simultaneously.
Valam roared and swept his arm at Artemis, sending her flying backwards and onto the ground a few feet away, her cry of alarm and pain joining the cacophony. Hot tears poured down her face as she rolled to her side and puked at last.
She released the contents of her stomach while Valam fired off shots of plasma into the canopies above with his shoulder canon. Leaves fell to the ground in pieces along with broken pieces of bark and branch, the little pieces mixing in with the growling pool of vomit. He roared violent threats as the whisperer continued to taunt him.
More joined in as he spun in circles trying to find the origin of the voices.
One or more other Yautja were around and it filled Artemis with a little hope. Hope that friends had arrived and hope that Rhage would save her from this misery and pain. He and the others would kill Valam and everything would be okay again.
It had to.
Valam's roar made Artemis shakily cover her ears, ignoring the shaky quivering of her stomach. The sound was deafening but it wasn't anywhere near the strength of the one that followed.
She felt the ground shake beneath her when something heavy landed on the ground near Valam. The impact sent dirt flying and the pieces of fallen bark scattering. Sunlight highlighted a huge wavy invisible figure as other sounds of impact followed along with the beeps of cloaks falling away to reveal four familiar, and friendly, Yautja.
If she could even trust them, that is.
A few feet away the wavy figure revealed itself to be none other than Rhage.
He stood there in all his armored glory, the gunmetal grey shining in the various beams of light that came through the trees. His long chest length locs had been pulled back into a que at his neck with a few strands of beads framing the sides of his masked face. One of his wristblades was extended longer than she had known possible, the length almost as long as his arm entirely. A growl emanated from his wide powerful chest as he faced Valam who had started growling, too.
"R-Rhage..." Artemis sobbed, the very motion sending a fresh sharp pain through her ribs.
Weakly, her fingers stretched out across the dirt reaching for him. She wanted to feel him. He had to help take her away from this awful place.
His head whipped in her direction sending the free strands of beads to fly about with the quickness of the motion. A low rumbling purr from him gave her some reassurance as two of his party knelt by her, retrieving items from a pouch each of them wore.
The familiar figure closest to her purred gently as he readied a syringe with a fluorescent liquid. One of his hands cupped her shoulder and pulled her into his lap. His long black locs fell around her shoulders as he bent over her preparing the medical supplies. She smelled the familiar scent of Dhare; smoky pine and rain.
Dhare got to work while the other, Khaj, she could tell by his coloring, set little devices around them in a circle. Rhage had turned back to the Valam and was arguing with him it seemed, their rapid clicking and growling filling the area. Valam snarled and started pacing back and forth just as he had done when she had questioned him.
No doubt he was getting grilled by Rhage.
She whimpered when Dhare inserted the big needle into her upper arm. He spread a gooey orange cream over the injection site and gently rubbed it into her skin in soothing circles, his purring louder as she cried out.
Liquid fire burned through her body, growing hotter and hotter.
"It...it burns!" Cried Artemis, trying to break free from Dhare's hold around her body. He held his arms around her and purred. His hold was strong. Annoyingly strong.
Then, just as quickly as the fire had raged through her body, it was gone. Her body was left feeling numb. Breathing came easier and there was no longer a sharp pain with every breath.
A calm settled and those around her spoke with one another in hushed words she didn't know yet. What little Rhage was working on teaching her wasn't that advanced.
She picked up a few bits and pieces of what the third male said as he pointed to Rhage and Valam.
Bad Blood. Execution? They were talking too fast!
It hurt to think. Thick cotton clogged her brain making it difficult to really think about anything beyond surface level. Lying in Dhare's arms wasn't helping, either.
He was so warm...
Were all Yautja so warm? They were like living heaters! It felt so good.
"Artemis, Orion is safe with Leoni and Kato. Calm yourself, step-bearer." Dhare lightly ran his claws through her hair, the tips not touching her soft scalp.
"Th-thank you, Dhare." Artemis sighed, turning her attention to Rhage who was still arguing with Valam. Their voices were getting louder. Their anger rising.
Rhage needed to get it over with and execute Valam for what he had done.
• • •
Rhage had never felt hurt like he was experiencing now. Embers of disbelief burned in his chest. Fissures cracked the foundations of his trust in those around him. A fire raged within and spread like a disease, threatening to overcome the struggle to overcome the festering bloodlust pumping through his veins. His thwei craved to kill Valam where he stood.
His former friend stood opposite of him. The sunlight poking through the trees shone on his polished armor and casted a harsh glare along the edges. There was no indication that he was scared or ready to surrender.
"Why?" Seethed Rhage, his fists balling up so tightly that his claws pricked his thick skin and drew blood.
Artemis had broken ribs, fractures to her skull, various bruising, and lacerations latticing her pyode skin. She could've very well died if he hadn't been here sooner. He could've found her dead, a cold corpse on the forest floor left to rot. His shining light reduced to nothing. Her smile sniffed out like a candle.
Valam crossed his beefy arms, "She makes you weak. She already has weakened you. It's disgusting. I simply am correcting this. This was the only way."
"That is c'jit and you know it!"
"You are hulij-bpe."
"You have crossed the line and there is no going back. You will die on this planet for such an offense." Rhage pointed a claw to the ground beneath his feet, "You attack a female, my life mate. You kidnap her. You injure her. Now you speak to me as if you did nothing wrong! Tell me, Valam, was it you that poisoned her on Saqqar? Tell me!"
The two began to circle each other, moving around an invisible fixed point between them. Everyone else in the clearing had gone silent as they watched and waited for the coming fight.
"Sei'i. If it was not for the quick actions of Kato and Tare, then that would have succeeded." He shrugged, "One of Zen'tukte's males took the fall just as was planned."
Something deep within Rhage snapped. His carefully held self-control withered away as soon as the words left Valam's mouth. He froze in his spot and unsheathed his dual wristblades with a rumbling growl. The wrath of a thousand suns imploding sent him into a rage.
"Ell-osde pauk!"
The two males clashed violently. Growls filled the air as they landed deadly blows upon each other.
Rhage's wristblades easily sliced through Valam's belly, fluorescent green blood splatting his own and parts of his armor. He immediately followed up with an uppercut. His head snapped back and he staggered a few steps backwards. A groan left his throat as he rubbed at his jaw.
"Zabin!" Valam spit.
He tackled Rhage and sucker punched him right above the eyes. Artemis yelled for him to stop but he continued to assault Rhage.
The older male hooked his legs around Valam's waist and rolled them over where he impaled Valam through his belly, fluorescent thwei pooling out of the parallel wounds instantly. With the twist of his wrist, he shredded what organs had been caught in his wrist blades. He hissed as Valam roared in agony, writhing beneath him
"Pathetic! You think you can best me? You forget who I am!" Rhage huffed.
Back to his feet he rose and let the gored male struggle to his feet, a large hand pressed against the wound as thwei continued to come out. Valam hunched over slightly and groaned in pain when he tried to stand up.
"You...have bested me..." he coughed, sheathing his wristblades, "old friend..." A growing pool of his thwei highlighting Valam's scaly skin in the sunlight, the color almost blinding it was so bright.
The breeze blew Rhage's locs to the side, sending a chill across the exposed skin that didn't have netting. The day was moving into afternoon and with its coming came Valam's eventual death. What lied beyond called for the seasoned hunter while he struggled to stand on his feet, refusing the call.
"I do not regret what I have done. I only regret that I did not succeed. I look back upon the days we hunted together in our youths. So young. So inexperienced." Valam fell to his knees with a defeated groan, his hand still clutching at his wound, "The Destroyer will not take me easily..."
His voice came out in wheezes now as Rhage came to stand over him, watching nature run it's course. He felt his thirst for vengeance wane momentarily.
Their youth together as Young Bloods had been glorious indeed, but now, as highly ranked Hunters, they knew better. They knew the Code and enforced it. Valam had been one of those who had helped build the Blue Spear clan into what it was today. Without him and others, it would still be small and less respected.
Standing there watching his former friend bleed out hurt. It hurt like nothing ever before. It was a different kind of hurt compared to the one he felt for Artemis.
His blood brother.
His ally.
His friend.
He had known Valam for centuries and to be the one for his demise was sobering. A cavernous hole opened in his heart where he once felt familial love for Valam. He had never thought it would come to such a betrayal of the Code and everything they had worked towards together. He had never known that the male he had spent so much time with would do this.
All of those moments would be lost in time, like rain, washed away.
Taking in a deep shuddering breath to reign in his emotions, he knelt before Valam. The male met his gaze, a glaze having taken the fight out of his eyes. They simply stared at one another.
In that moment, Rhage wished he could cry.
Cry for the lost brotherhood. Cry for tomorrow where they would never work together again. Cry for the memories. Cry for such a betrayal. Cry for the hurt he felt.
Hurt burned in his chest as he watched the lie die from Valam's eyes.
Voices spoke to him from behind but they were nothing but a rumble that melded together. A wall of white noise occupied his mind as he gently moved his former friend's body to lie on its side. He didn't want to collect a trophy from this. There would be unbidden memories should he collect Valam's skull.
He was unworthy of being on his wall. The male had given into his fate.
Rhage stood and made his way to Artemis.
His little human mate held her arms out to him weakly, her little limbs shaky as she laid them upon his chest. Tears fell down her cheeks as she gazed up at him. He couldn't believe that she was still here. Still alive.
Purring softly, he took her from Dhare and enveloped her into his arms, rising to his feet. He wrapped an arm under her ass and the other across her back to support her. Her scent washed over him, filling him with warmth as he ordered Dhare and Khaj to bury the body.
"No special rites. Just bury him. No trophies are to be taken." He instructed as he walked to the other end of the clearing where the drop ship was landing, the large triangular craft settling down with a thump.
The two males got to work while the two others followed him up the ramp into the ship. Rhage settled himself into the seat that faced the exit ramp so he could watch the burial, Dhare working with Khaj to dig an appropriate hole with a shovel that someone procured from the ship. Together they pushed Valam's bloody corpse into the hole and that was when Rhage had enough. He turned his focus solely to his mate.
Artemis lied against him in his lap having dozed off. Dhare had given her a hearty cocktail to start mending the injuries and numb the pain.
He ran his hands over every inch of bared skin feeling for anything they had missed. He thankfully found nothing. In his search he found her wrist gauntlet had tiny splatters of dried Yautja blood around the opening for the wristblades and on her fingers.
She had tried to fight Valam.
His little sain'ja.
Of course she would never defeat a Yautja, but she had tried. He found some more Yautja blood beneath her fingernails as he inspected the gauntlet. Pride swelled in his chest that she had tried to fight Valam herself.
His spunky little mate.
Oh, how he loved her. His heart could explode with the amount of affection and adoration he held for her and their pup.
Orion had a truly wonderful bearer.
When they were both healed he wanted to show her just how deeply he loved her.
Dhare and Khaj walking up the ramp pulled him from his thoughts. His eldest pup sat next to him along the wall while Khaj took the opposite seat to Dhare. He took one last look outside at the pile of dirt that made his former friend's grave before the ship's engines turned on and the bay door closed, closing this chapter with a tight seal.
He relaxed into the seat and rested his cheek atop Artemis's head, allowing himself to bask in the moment.
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A/N: Things are coming to a close soon for this book and then we're onto the next with Star Child! Let me know what you think! I hope you like this chapter! Until next time! ~ Z
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